Clinical populations

(BQ) Ebook Bayley III clinical use and interpretation provides an introduction into use of the Bayley-III in each of these five areas. For each of these areas, individual chapters cover the relevant test content, administration, scoring, interpretation, strengths/concerns, and uses in clinical populations. Each chapter also includes a real life case study demonstrating typical performance of a child with delays one of the five areas of development.

Clearly a more stratified approach to clinical trials would help identify those subgroups who
appear to be the best responders to a particular intervention. To date however there is little
to suggest that stratification on the basis of clinical characteristics successfully helps predict
which drugs work best for which patients. There is a pressing need for the development of
biomarkers with clinical utility, for mental health problems.

Hypertension and coronary heart disease (CHD) are of great importance. Hypertension affects above 20% of the total population of the USA with its major impact on those over age 50. CHD is the cause of death in 30% of males and 22% of females in England and Wales. Management requires attention to detail, both clinical and pharmacological. The way drugs act in these diseases is outlined and the drugs are described according to class.

Advances in drug treatment have revolutionised the practice of psychiatry over the past six decades. Drugs provide a degree of stability and control in the lives of those suffering from schizophrenia, a chronic debilitating illness with impact so profound that it accounts for 2-3% of UK national health spending. Similarly, the impact of medication in alleviating the burden on individuals, their families and society of depression, which has a lifetime prevalence of up to I in 6 of the population, is substantial. ...

Population Screening Mass genetic screening programs require tests of high enough sensitivity and specificity to be cost-effective. An effective screening program should fulfill the following criteria: that the tested disorder is prevalent and serious; that it can be influenced presymptomatically through lifestyle changes, screening, or medications; and that identification of risk does not result in undue discrimination or harm.

We live in a world heavily populated by microorganisms of astonishing diversity. Most of these exist in our external environment but certain classes are normally harboured within our bodies, especially colonising mucosal surfaces. Depending on the circumstances, infectious disease can arise from organisms living exogenously or endogenously, and a knowledge of common pathogens at specific sites often provides a good basis for rational initial therapy.

Nutrient requirements for optimum health and function of aging physiological
systems often are quite distinct from young ones. Recognition and understanding
of the special nutrition problems of the aged are being intensively
researched and tested, especially due to the increases in the elderly in the
general population. In developed countries, economic restrictions and physical
inactivity during aging can signifi cantly reduce food intakes, contributing
to nutritional stresses and needs. Many disease entities and cancers are found
with higher frequency in the aged.

Approximately one-third of the population in Western societies experiences regular dyspepsia, although more than half selfmedicate with over-the-counter antacid preparations and do not seek medical advice. Up to 50% of those who do will have demonstrable pathology, most commonly gastro-oesophageal reflux or peptic ulceration. The remainder, in whom no abnormality is found, are diagnosed as having nonulcer dyspepsia.The pathophysiology and treatment differ for each of these three conditions.

Molecular analysis is generally more informative if testing is initiated in a symptomatic family member, since the identification of a mutation can direct the testing of other at-risk family members (whether they are symptomatic or not). In the absence of additional familial or environmental risk factors, individuals who test negative for the mutation found in the affected family member can be informed that they are at general population risk for that particular disease. Furthermore, they can be reassured that they are not at risk for passing on the mutation to their children.

Therapeutic Interventions Based on Genetic Risk for Disease Specific treatments are now available for an increasing number of genetic disorders, whether identified through population-based screening or directed testing (Table 64-2). Although the strategies for therapeutic interventions are best developed for childhood hereditary metabolic diseases, these principles are making their way into the diagnosis and management of adult-onset disorders. Hereditary hemochromatosis illustrates many of the issues raised by the availability of genetic screening in the adult population.

Principles of Genetic Variation and Human Traits (See also Chaps. 62 and 64) Variants in the human genome resulting in variation in level of expression or function of molecules important for pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics are increasingly recognized. These may be mutations (very rare variants, often associated with disease) or polymorphisms, variants that are much more common in a population. Variants may occur at a single nucleotide [known as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)] or involve insertion or deletion of one or more nucleotides.

The rate of technological progress is encouraging increasingly sophisticated lines of
enquiry in cognitive neuroscience and shows no sign of slowing down in the
foreseeable future. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that even the strongest advocates of the
cognitive neuroscience approach would maintain that advances in cognitive theory
have kept in step with methods-based developments. There are several candidate
reasons for the failure of neuroimaging studies to convincingly resolve many of the
most important theoretical debates in the literature.

Harrison's Internal Medicine Chapter 124. Sexually Transmitted Infections: Overview and Clinical Approach
Classification and Epidemiology
Worldwide, most adults acquire at least one sexually transmitted infection (STI), and many remain at risk for complications. Each year, for example, an estimated 6.2 million persons in the United States acquire a new genital human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and many of these individuals are at risk for genital neoplasias.

This book on investigative electrocardiography is addressed to investigators who are
using electrocardiology as a research tool in epidemiological or clinical research or
in investigations on possible adverse responses of new pharmacological agents. The
primary emphasis of the book is on prognostic implications of ECG abnormalities in
the conditions covered, including the prevalence and incidence of ECG abnormalities in
contrasting populations.
We excluded from our book cardiac disorders with a relatively low population prevalence
that otherwise may be of great clinical interest.

This book developed out of a course in laboratory informatics for residents in
training in pathology and for fellows in the clinical laboratory sciences given
over a period of years. The topics covered and the approach taken were
strongly influenced by real-life experience. Pathology residents and clinical
laboratory scientists, like the general population, vary greatly in familiarity
with information issues in the laboratory and the computer system and infrastructure
that supports an information system.

Uterine myomas are the most common benign tumors in women, affecting
20%–50% of reproductive age population. Myomas cause significant morbidity
and are the single most common indication for hysterectomy in the United States,
representing a major personal and public health concern worldwide. Recent
research on the cellular and molecular biology of myomas has enabled us to
understand better the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of this tumor, but more
remains to be done.

Increasing diversity in the U.S. population has sharpened concerns
about the vitality and diversity of the clinical research workforce, concerns that
have persisted for two decades. Our nation’s unprecedented level of investment
in biomedical research has led to an explosion of new knowledge
about human health and disease, but basic research achievements must be
translated into treatments and therapies in order to benefit human health.

This paper presents a hybrid approach to question answering in the clinical domain that combines techniques from summarization and information retrieval. We tackle a frequently-occurring class of questions that takes the form “What is the best drug treatment for X?” Starting from an initial set of MEDLINE citations, our system ﬁrst identiﬁes the drugs under study. Abstracts are then clustered using semantic classes from the UMLS ontology. Finally, a short extractive summary is generated for each abstract to populate the clusters. ...